Fight Club is a great novel, but it’s opening chapter is a bit… weird.
How does the author make it work and what can we learn from it?
Let’s read, chat, and discuss together
During the last stream, we took a look at the opening few pages to Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk and examined it paragraph by paragraph.
Watch the full stream here.
Here’s what we took away from the opening chapter:
- There’s a lot of power in drawing reader attention via an insane opening sentence (potentially by using sharp contrast), but then be sure to ground the reader afterward
- It’s more important to ground the reader in the who/what than the when/where
- Don’t be afraid to have your character go on introspective tangents, so long as they’re related to what’s happening currently in the story, and we get their thought on that thought at the end
- If you’re going to do a “prequel” prologue, be sure to have something that concretely ties it into the next chapter so it doesn’t feel completely disjointed
- If your goal is to have twists that will change how the reader reads your story, make sure that it still makes perfect sense on the first readthrough (even if the reader misinterprets it)
- Don’t be afraid to repeat things to remind the reader of what’s happening, especially if it’s integral to the scene, consider putting a slightly different spice on it each time though
- If your scene needs a quick and easy way to be grounded, or to go on crazy tangents that get pulled back in, toss in a countdown!
- Keep in mind that what will make a reader want to continue reading your story isn’t necessarily the plot, but the characters so long as they’re compelling enough
- Don’t be afraid to describe things in weird ways that are unique to your main character/that play into your story’s themes: if you’ve heard something described that way before, then describe it a different way!
- Sprinkling in some little musings about the situation/life from your main character will make them feel more human
If you want to join us and help write a story by trolling in chat, or share your own writing for feedback, then we’d love to have you join us on Twitch.
And you missed the stream, you can still watch them on the YouTube channel or watch the full stream reruns.
Hope to see you next time, friend!
Featured image: Amazon